Stitchdown sole for footwear



Jue' 17, 1924. 1,497,773

l. w. pAvlD STITCHDOWN SOLE FOR FOOTWEAR Filed Dec. 4, 1922 /a A TTORNEY'4 Patented June 17, 1924.

STATES IRWIN w.. DAVID, orl New YORK, N. Y.

STITCHDOWN SOLE FOR FOOTWEAR.

Application filed December 4, 1922.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be .it known that I, IRWIN 1V. DAVID, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stitchdown Soles for Foot-wear, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to improvements in footwear, and has specific reference to the construction of the soles of what are known as stitch-down shoes, i. e. a type of shoe having a rather heavy sole and low heel, and in which the upper is sewed to .y

the sole.

The sole in this type of shoe consists of at least two layers or thicknesses of leather or other material marginally interconnected by stitching, and as a result of this construction the sole is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its width. In walk-y ing, the marginal stitching is subjected to considerable abrasion and as a consequence the stitching wears through relatively quickly causing separation of the upper from the sole. Furthermore, the considerable thickness of the sole at its edge or marginal portion conveys an appearance of heaviness or solidity which `is often more seeming than real, thus detracting from the appearance of the shoe.

With the foregoing in mind, the principal object of my invention is to improve the appearance of the shoe generally by giving the sole an appearance of less thickness, and at the same time to increase the life of the shoe by reducing the danger of abrasion of the stitching by which the layers of the sole are secured together. I accomplish this object by making the marginal portion of the sole thinner than the ball portion thereof, so that in walking the ball portion of the sole will normally and fully contact with" the ground which the marginalportion of the sole will remain clear of the ground until the ball part has become fairly well worn. I preferably secure this difference in thickness of the sole by skiving theinner edges of the two sole layers, so that when these layers are stitched together the ball portion will be full thickness while the edge portion will be ofreduced thickness.

The invention is' illustrated in the accom.-l

Serial No. 604,674.

the layers or thicknesses which make up the sole; Fig'. 3 is a transverse section of two such layers or thicknesses before beingk stitched together; Fig. 4 is a similar view of lthe thicknesses after they are stitched; and

Fig. 5 is a modified form of the invention showing a skived filler piece about which a thin insole and outer soleare superposed.

In the drawing, particularly Fig. 1, the shoe upper is designated 10, the sole gencrally is designated 11, and 12 is the stitching by which the upper is attached to the so e.

The sole is made up of the thicknesses 13 and 14C, of which 13 forms the insole, and 14.- the outer sole. Both insole and outer sole are similar in construction and Fig. 2 depicts the inner face of either. The ball portion of the two soles is denoted 15 and their edge portions 16. Extending inwardly from the edge 16 a. suitable distance is a skived area 17 which follows the contour of the sole from the toe 20 along both sides to a little beyond the instep portion 18, the heel part 19 being left unskived.

After the soles have been skived, and in the course of manufacturing the shoe, the two soles are accurately superimposed and appear asin Fig. 3 with a space or gap between the skived edges 16. Thereafter these skived vedges are secured together by a line of stitching 21 and the sole appears asin Fig. 4: with the ball portion appreciably thicker than the edge. Obviously' the edge ofthe sole lies in a higher plane than the ball and the stitching 21 will not be abraded by contact with the ground until the ball has worn down substantially even with the` edge,at which time resoling will be needed. When ythe sole is in the condition illustrated in Fig. 4 it is ready for attachment to the upper 10 in the manner well known' in this art.

In the modified form of Fig. 5,the sole is made up of an interior filler member 22 com.

posed of rubber or other suitable moisture proof material which is skived about its edges to provide a raised ball portion similarv to that shown in Fig. 4. The filler 22 is enclosed between two thicknesses of thm masy terial, of which 23 forms the outer sole and 24: the insole, the outer sole and insole being secured together by a line of stitching extending about the edges thereof and just 5 beyond the edge of the filler 22.

I claim: As an article of manufacture, a shoe having a Stitch down Sole made of marginally ekived layers of material, and a row of inarginal stitching disposed in the slived por- 10 tion of the layers.

In testimony whereof I afx my Signature.

IRWIN W. DAViD. 

